Carton.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTQE.

ABNER M. SEELEY AND NELSON C. DURANID, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 THOMAS A. EDISON, INCORPORATED, OF WEST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CARTON.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22,1912.

Application filed October 20, 1910. Serial No. 588,032.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ABNER M. SEELEY and NELSON G. DURAND, citizens of the United States, and residents of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cartons, of which the following is a description.

Our invention relates to cartons, and particularly to those designed for holding rec ords or blanks such as are employed for receiving letters and the like dictated to the phonograph. Such cartons should hold the record safely and securely and the record should at the same time be readily accessible to the user in its carton and be instantly removable therefrom.

The object of our invent-ion is to provide a carton of this character in which a base member is pro-vided having resilient means as a bent spring secured to the same and rising within the carton in position to frictionally engage the bore of the phonograph record or blank inserted within the carton to prevent the same from falling from the open end of the carton, and to securely retain the record within the carton until it is removed therefrom by a direct longitudinal pull. Also, preferably, the base member with its resilient record-retaining means is detachable from the casing ofthe carton to which it may be secured and held prefer ably by friction. By this means the base or bottom member with the spring secured thereto may be of .a permanent character, preferably being formed of metal, and may be transferred from one carton to another when the carton with which it has been used becomes dirty or worn. e also intend to provide the base member as described with its attached spring as a separate article of manufacture adapted to be used in cooperation with cylindrical cartons of cardboard or similar material for the purposes described.

In order that our invention may be more clearly understood, attention is hereby directed to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical cross section through a carton inclosing a record and embodying our invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the same, and Fig. 1 is a partial longitudinal section of the same showing a modification.

Referring to the drawings, the carton comprises a cylindrical casing 1 which. is adapted to be closed by the annular bottom member 2, the casing 1 being preferably formed of one continuous piece of cardboard. The top of the casing is preferably left open, as shown in Fig. 1. In the embodiment of our invention disclosed in Fig. 1, bottom member 2 carries an annulus of felt or other soft material 3 upon which the lower end of the sound record or blank at rests when the same is inclosed within the carton. By making the members 2 and 3 annular, the cartons may be placed upon and retained in place by pins or projections such as are found on the commonly em ployed racks and trays for record cylinders. The cylindrical casing 1 is preferably lined with fleece or other soft material 5. The metal spring member 6 is secured to the upper side of bottom member 2 at its two ends, the spring extending longitudinally within the carton and being adapted to frictionally engage the bore of record A: inclosed within the carton at two diametrically opposite points, as shown. The bottom member 2 is preferably formed of tin or other metal, the bottcm thus being of a permanent and light construction. The spring 6 may be secured to bottom 2 in any suitable way, as by bending over the lower ends 7 and 8 of the spring and passing the same through slits in bottom member 2, as is shown in Fig. 3. The bottom 2 is provided with a cylindrical upturned flange 9 of a suitable diameter to ti htly engage the outside surface of the bottom of cylindrical casing 1. Bottom 2 is preferably provided with means for frictionally retaining the same upon the carton, such as the interrupted screw thread indicated at 10, 11 in Fig. 2. This may be formed by punching the periphery of cylindrical flange 9 of bottom 2 at intervals, the metal being displaced on the interior of the flange in the form of inclined ridges. When the bottom member is forced upon the lower end of the cylindrical casing 1 which is preferably formed of cardboard or similar material and rotated through a partial revolution, the inclined ridges formed on flange 9 by the punching will dig into the lower end of the cylindrical casing and thereby retain the bottom member in threaded engagement with the casing.

Preferably, the cartons are provided with a permanent bottom of cardboard or other n'iaterial 12, as shown in Fig. i, this bottom having a circular cent al opening formed therein as shown, and not being provided with any holding means, such as spring 6. iecords 4 may be packed in such boxes for the purpose of storage or shipment, and when it is desired to use the same, bottom 2 provided with spring means 3 may be positioned on the end of the carton, as shown in Fig. i, the spring 6 being 1nserted within the carton through the circular opening in the bottom of member 12, upon which member record l: is adapted to rest in this form of our invention. By this means the bottom member '2 may be transferred from one carton to another when the first carton has worn out or become otherwise unsuitable for use.

Having now described our invention, what we claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is as follows i. In a record carton, the combination of a cylindrical casing, a bot-tom member for said casing having a central opening therein. and spring means extending upwardly within said casing and having end portions at the bottom of the carton spaced a substantial distance apart and secured to said bottom member at opposite sides of the opening therein, substantially as described.

2. In a record carton, the combination of a cylindrical casing having an open upper end, a bottom member for said casing having a central opening therein and a spring loop extending upwardly within said casing and having its end portions spaced a sul stantial distance apart and secured to said. bottom member at opposite sides of the opening therein, substantially as described.

8. In a record carton, the combination of a cylindrical cardboard casing and having an open upper end, a detachable metallic bottom member for said casing, the said bottom member comprising a bottom portion having a central opening therein and a cylindrical portion projecting from said bottom portion, and a spring loop rising from said bottom portion within said casing and having its end portions spaced a substantial distance apart and secured to said bottom member at opposite sides of the opening therein, said cylindrical portion be ing provided on its interior surface with an interrupted screw thread in threaded engagement wit-h the outside of said casing, substantially as described.

4. In a carton, the combination of a cylindrical casing having a permanent bottom provided with a central opening, a de t-achable bottom member provided with a central opening in register with said first named opening, and a spring loop adapted to be passed through said first named opening and extending upwardly within said casing, the end portions of said loop being spaced a substantial distance apart and secured to said detachable bottom member at opposite sides of the opening therein, substantially as described.

5. In a carton, the combination of a cylindrical casing having a permanent bottom provided with a central opening, a detachable bottom member comprising a bottom portion and a cylindrical portion projecting from said bottom portion and detachably secured to the cylindrical wall 01. said casing, and resilient record retaining means adapted to be passed through said opening,

said means being secured to said detachable bottom member and extending upwardly within said casing, substantially as described.

6. In a carton, the combination of a cylindrical. cardboard casing having a pcr1nanent bottom provided with a central opening, a detachable metallic bottom member comprising a bottom portion provided with a central opening in register with said first named opening and a cylindrical portion provided with an interrupted screw thread in threaded engagement with the cylindrical wall of said casing, and a spring loop adapted to be passed through said first named opening and extending upwardly within said casing, the end portions of said loop being spaced a substantial distance apart and secured to said bottom member at opposite sides of the opening therein, substantially as described.

7. In a carton, the combination of a cylindrical casing having a permanent bottom provided with a central opening, a detachable bottom member secured to said casing, and resilient record retaining means secured to said detachable bottom member and extending upwardly within said casing, said means being adapted to be passed through said opening, substantially as described.

8. In a carton, the combination of a cylindrical casing having a permanent bottom provided with a central opening, a detach able bottom member provided wit-l1 a central opening in register with said first named opening and secured to said casing, and spring means extending upwardly within said casing and having end portions at the bottom of the carton spaced a substantial distance apartand secured to said detachable bottom member at opposite sides of the opening therein, substantially as described.

9. As a new article of manufacture, a bottom member for cylindrical record cartons having a central opening therein, and spring record-engaging means extending upwardly from said member and having end port-ions at the bottom thereof spaced a substantial distance apart and secured to said bottom member at opposite sides of the opening therein, substantially as described.

10. As a new article of manufacture, a.

bottom member for cylindrical record cartons having a central opening therein, and a spring loop extending upwardly from said member and having its end portions spaced a substantial distance apart and secured to said bottom member at opposite sides of the opening therein, substantially 15 as described.

This specification signed and witnessed this 18th day of October, 1910.

ABNER M. SEELEY. NELSON C. DURAND. Witnesses to the signature of Abner M. Seeley:

M. VAN DALPEN, H. N. SU'rcLIFrE. Witnesses to the signature of Nelson C. Durand:

Dyna SMITH, ANNA R. KLEHM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

